Magic Johnson: "Michael Jordan couldn't run a team like I could"

[Sccit]

Magic Johnson delivers again

By Jon Becker for the Daily News
Posted: Saturday, September 21, 2013 8:00 am

Basketball legend-turned business mogul Magic Johnson was in the area Friday to lend his considerable clout to Saginaw Promise, a scholarship program aimed at helping students in impoverished communities attend college.
Johnson, flashing his signature megawatt smile and displaying the charisma that allows him to easily capture a room, visited the Dow Corning Corp., where he talked about a variety of topics — including his Hall of Fame NBA career — with an audience of some 125 of the company’s employees and 20 students from the city of Saginaw. Not content to rest on his laurels, which include five NBA championships as the orchestrator of the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s and myriad business successes since his playing days ended, Johnson travels the country preaching the value of education and “putting people of color to work.” He hopes his own story can serve as inspiration to young people.
“I was just like you. Growing up poor doesn’t mean you have to have poor dreams,” said Johnson, who grew up in Lansing in a working class family with six sisters and three brothers. “I was the first to go to college. Education can change everything.”
Johnson, mindful of so many professional athletes who squandered their fortunes and were left ill-prepared for life after the limelight, was determined not to go that route. A fierce competitor who said he doesn’t like to lose at anything, he sought advice from accomplished businessmen and came up with a plan.
“The thing is, I’m a winner,” he said. “My whole thing is about winning. I wanted to create change in Urban America. I thought we needed more theaters, so I brought in Magic Johnson theaters. That’s how it (Magic Johnson Enterprises) all started.”
Yet before he became Magic, the revolutionary 6’9” point guard who would go on to win championships in high school, college and the NBA, Earvin Johnson was a kid with a reading problem. Even though by eighth grade he had already developed a reputation for his talents on the basketball floor, a counselor said young Earvin was in for a rude awakening.
“She told me I was a great basketball player but I was never going to college because I was in eighth grade reading at a fifth grade level,” Magic recounted. “I went to summer school and that was tough because other kids were going swimming and playing. My grades turned around, though, and when Michigan State came calling I was accepted. It was her pulling me aside and telling me I had a reading problem that saved me. It’s important that I give back because someone helped me.”
For those in attendance who wanted some sports talk mixed in with business acumen, Magic Johnson didn’t disappoint. When asked who would win a game of one-one between him and Michael Jordan, he didn’t hesitate.
“Michael would win. That’s not my game. My game is assisting, setting up my teammates. Michael’s the greatest one-on-one player. I couldn’t go out and drop 60 like him, but he couldn’t run a team like I could.”
Forever linked with Larry Bird dating back to the 1979 NCAA Championship game that saw Magic lead his MSU Spartans to victory over Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores, a rivalry the two carried over to the NBA, Johnson said, “Larry Bird and Michael Jordan were the two biggest trash talkers ever. But they could back it up. I knew Larry Bird was shooting 2,000 shots in the gym during the summer, so I shot 5,000. He made me a better player and better person.”
Johnson, part of a group who purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, said he’d love to see a Dodgers-Detroit Tigers World Series.
“I was a huge Tigers fan growing up,” he said. “I can tell you all about Freehan, Cash, Kaline, Lolich, Gates Brown …”
He also said Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores is doing a splendid job and, with off-season acquisitions and the development of young players like Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe, predicts the club will make the playoffs this season, as a seventh or eighth seed.
“They’ve got some high-flyers. They’re going to be an exciting team to watch.”
Like his rivalry with Larry Legend, Johnson said companies too can grow from their competitors.
“Your rival can make you a better company. Bird and Jordan made their teammates better. The thing today is you have to over-deliver to customers. That’s what we do and we’re the No. 1 brand in Urban America.”
Johnson promised to make a Great Lakes Loons game next season (“Will I get good seats?”) and implored students not to be deterred by trying circumstances.
“I was like you growing up poor in Lansing,” he said. “We had the peanut butter but we didn’t have the jelly. We had the Kool-Aid but we didn’t have the sugar. Make sure you understand that you’re going to face challenges. It’s how you react to those challenges that matters.”
In April Johnson donated $123,000 to Saginaw Promise. When Dow Corning became a corporate partner in the student scholarship program by donating $10,000, the former NBA MVP said he’d in turn speak to local students and employees of the company.

http://bleacherreport.com/tb/dbj7n?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=nba

[Hack Wilson - real]

Elano likes these two because they both have gay, black sons.

[Sccit]

Elano likes these two because they both have gay, black sons.

mj has a gay son too? smh

[Chamillitary Click]

I mean in a sense that's fair to say. That underlined and bolded sentence says it all.

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in essence, he's saying he's the better overall player

[Hack Wilson - real]

which is rather laughable

[Sccit]

lol u dont know shit about magic if u think thats laughable


this is a guy who scored 42 points as a rookie in a close-out finals game when starting at center for an injured kareem...he played center in high school and was always a natural scorer before even becoming a point guard... but because he became so good at running a team, he took a step back and became the greatest teammate in the history of the game... magic could score at will if he truly wanted to. only in 1987 was he finally asked to become a primary scorer..thats close to 10 years before he got his chance 2 showcase his true individual abilities.... his all-around game was lightyears ahead of michael's.

[Hack Wilson - real]

magic is an all time great...top 5 for sure.  but the only people on the planet that take him over MJ are you, magic himself and Jay Mohr.  you don't need to tell me what he did in high school because t hat doesn't prove a thing lol

[Sccit]

magic is an all time great...top 5 for sure.  but the only people on the planet that take him over MJ are you, magic himself and Jay Mohr.  you don't need to tell me what he did in high school because t hat doesn't prove a thing lol

what i do need to tell u is that he had 5 titles, and only played about 3/5ths of his career.


woulda undeniably had more had he not contracted HIV

[Hack Wilson - real]

and MJ retired early twice...wrong guy to argue against.

[Sccit]

and MJ retired early twice...wrong guy to argue against.

which in essence, helped him for the 2nd threepeat, considering it gave him a breather and a chance to return to the game refreshed, with less mileage on his legs than ur average player that age...


like i said, if u truly love basketball, do urself the favor and study more magic.

[Hack Wilson - real]

gave him a breather?  lmao

[Sccit]

gave him a breather?  lmao

yea..that break was a chance for him to take a rest and come back re-energized...what the fuc is so funny?

[Chamillitary Click]

in essence, he's saying he's the better overall player

Pretty much a better distributor. Hence "my game is assisting".

[Sccit]

in essence, he's saying he's the better overall player

Pretty much a better distributor. Hence "my game is assisting".

better overall leader, extension of coach on the floor, etc....better at running a team in general.